Lubricating pad for journal boxes



Feb. 7, 1961 H. T. RocKwl-:LL 2,970,870

LUBRICATING PAD FOR JOURNAL BoxEs Original Filed Jan. 24, 1955 INVENTOR Harley TROC/(wel Z ATTORNEY S United States Patent LUBRICATING PAD FOR JOURNAL BOXES Harley T. Rockwell, 136 Chittenden Ave., Tnckahoe, N.Y.

Original application Jan. 24, 1955, Ser. No. 483,641,

now Patent No. 2,807,803, dated Sept. 24, 1957. Divided and this application Sept. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 684,288

3 Claims. (Cl. 308-243) This invention relates to lubricators for journal bearings of railway car axle journals and other like journal bearings and particularly to lubricators of that type comprising an oil absorbing and transmitting or distributing elastic or resilient pad adapted to be disposed in the bottom of a journal box and held in contact with the surface of the journal and serve as a reservoir for lubricating oil and distributor for feeding such oil and oil stored in the box to the bearing surface of the journal.

The increases in the size and weight of cars equipped with such bearings, in the load weights carried thereby, and particularly in the speed of high speed trains, have resulted in a great increase in the number of what are known as hot boxes caused by the possibly and potentially dangerous overheating of journal bearings due to inefficient and/or insuticient application of lubricating oil and other contributing causes inherent in the use of cotton' waste and other types of lubricators commonly employed.

The use of storage pad lubricators to secure higher eiiciency and to overcome the other various defects of prior lubricators has been suggested and almost limitless variations of such lubricators have been described in the patent literature. The lubricators which have been proposed fall into two general classes, resilient pads on the one hand, and mechanical devices involving springs or the like on the other. Of the pads, the overwhelming majority have been of the single pocket or the one body type such as is illustrated, for example, in United States Patent No. 2,747,952 to Harkenrider. Some few plural pocket lubricators have been proposed, however, and this type is best illustrated by United StatesPatent No. 91,000 to Devlan. This type pad consisted of an elastic cushion formed by packing elastic sponge into two pouches made of cloth, netting or other textile material of a sufficient neness to confine the sponge. The pouches, bags or covers were then secured to each other at their edges and were inserted in the journal box where theyformed a groove or recess to receive the journal, as is;illustrated and described in the Devlan patent. That is to say, the separate pouches, bags or covers formed a wide angle trough at the line along which they were joined, with one wall of the trough being in contact with one undersurface of the journal to the left of the center line andthe other wall of-the trough being in contact withthe other undersurface of the journal to the right ofthe centerline. This arrangement produces an unsat-V isfactory feed of lubricant and was never used commlercially. I

According to the present invention, I have now found that it is possible to provide effective and adequate lubrication of an improved nature through the use of a plural pad lubricator of a specific type. According to my invention I provide aV twin pocket lubricator` wherein .thev

pocketsareformed of a fabric casing lhaving a napped surface defining adjoining parallel pockets into which compressible and expansible cores of resilient material areinserted, When the lubricatorvis properly lplaced andthe wall 7 is provided with the usual well 14 tof receive a sealing disc or gasket 15 which encircles and,

ffice in the journal box these cores force the upper and outer pile surfaces of the pockets into contact with the lower walls of adjoining pockets together to cause the pile on the walls to commingle to form a double wall passageway substantially on the vertical center line of the journal' for feeding oil direct to the journal. It has been found that this direct passage formed by substantially parallel walls with the nap intermingled between the parallel walls feeds a large volume of lubricant to the journal through j' capillary action and through a pumping action which is 4' obtained whenever the railroad car changes speeds so as to cause the lubricator to tend to shift in the journal box. The main object of the present invention is to provide a pad type of lubricator which overcomes all the general objections to prior lubricators and which is responsive automatically to the demands of a journal in service to give more rapid and more efficient lubrication, sufficient at'all times to keep the bearing in rgood running order and to prevent overheating of the bearing and the prevention of a hot box.

A further object of the present invention. is to provide a novel and improved construction of lubricator, of pad type, which has such desirable qualities and which embodies a flexible expansible and retractible pad including resilient oil storage and cooperating absorbent oil storage and capillary oil feeding and distributing means formingA component parts thereof, whereby a durable, inexpensivev and reliable construction of lubricator isproduced which in the forms disclosed or other equivalent forms is applicable to .various types of journal boxes inuse.

With these and other objects in view, which will appeary in the course of the subjoined description, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein shown, described and claimed,`

and as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a vertical transverse section through a journal box and journal, showing a lubricator of a type embodying my invention as applied for use therein;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the box and lubricator;

Figure 3 is a perspective view ofthe pad shown in- Figures 1 and 2 as it appears when removed from the journal box and charged with oil ready for insertion into the journal box; and

Figure 4 is a perspective View of the casing shown in' Figure 3 as it appears when its pockets are not lled with.

cartridges.

Referring now more particularly to the figures inthe drawing, 1 designates a journal box of a certain type which comprises in its construction a bottom wall 2,

sidewalls 3, 3', a top wall 4, a front wall 5 provided with a doorway or door opening 6, and a Irear Wall 7` having an opening 8 for passage of the journal 9 of the wheel carrying axle 10, which is formed at its rear with the shoulder 11, and abutment 12 lying at the rear and front of the sealing surface 13 located lat the juncture of the outer end of the axle and inner end of the journal.'

The surface 13 isjdisposed to rotate inthe opening 8 contacts with the surface 13 to close the opening 8 against proximity to the door opening 6. The box construction provides at the base of the box below'the journal a reservoir chamber for lubricating oil, as indicated at 20, and to receive the lubricating pad, which reservoir chamber is curved transversely of the box eccentrically with relation to the journal and is of the greatest depth at its vertical center and thence tapers upwardly. The sidewalls of the journal box are vertically straight at their lower portions but have inturned upper contacting portions 19 whereby the pad in the journal box may be held against shifting.

The lubricator pad is designed to t in the reservoir chamber between the vertical wall surfaces 3, 3 and is of oblong rectangular form in plan. The pad comprises an absorbent casing or jacket 22 preferably of a strong and durable permeable textile fabric having an outerloop pile or napped surface 23, and which may be composed of more suitable connected` pieces of the fabric. However, any other equivalent kind of material may be employed, and While, as stated, the, casing may be made of a plurality of pieces of material, I preferably employ a single piece construction. In forming this single-piece construction, a piece of material of suitable length and width is selected, and this piece o-f material is folded upon itself with its pile surface outermost, to form relatively upper and lower wall portions 24 and 2S which are stitched together at an intermediate point transversely of the walls by longitudinally extending seam 26, and at one side Where the edges of the fabric are lapped by a longitudinally extending seam 27. This construction provides a casing or jacket having a pair of twin pockets 29 and 30 to enclose resilient bodies or cores 31' and 32.

The twin pockets are open at each end and when spread from a no-rmally collapsed or slack condition are separated by intervening partition walls formed by V-shaped infolding tucks or pleats 33 united by the seam 26. This partition wall in the spread condition of the pockets is essentially a double wall whose pile loops are overlapped, internested or commingled together and form with the fabric plies an oil conductor of large storage capacity and adapted to convey by capillary action a large volume of oil to the surface of the journal.

The core bodies or cartridges 3l and 32 are made of cellular resilient materials such as sponge rubber, or sponge plastic, which are coextensive in length with the pockets and of cross sectional dimensions to snugly fit the pockets and hold the same spread. In this spread condition the cartridges are compressed and. keep the pad,

in a state of compression with its surfaces pressed against the surfaces of the walls 3, 3' and the surface of the journal. The pores or cells of these resilient core bodies or cartridges are initially charged with oil and they take up oil conveyed thereto by the fabric container and expel the oil through the applying surfaces of the con tainer to keep the ply loops saturated for a constant and complete lubricating action. It will be o-bserved that the resilient bodies 31 and 32 are of polygonal form in cross section, and are so related that when the pad is disposed in working position in the journal box t-he faces of the resilient bodies which lie opposite each other will be spaced and arranged substantially in parallel relation to each other to provide an oil feed passage receiving the infolded partition walls 33, whichpassag'e extends from the bottom wall of the pad in contact with the bottom of the journal box upwardly to the top wall of the pad in contact with the surface of the journal. This passage provides a short path for flow of oil from the box and the resilient bodies to the journal in Which the infolds 33 and their nestedA pile loops are more or less compactly disposed, whereby a rapid flow of oil in large volume to the journal by capillary action is insure-d, supplemented by the pumping action induced by relative motion between the box and journal causing compression and expansion of the resilient bodies.

The pad construction described also provides a flexible compressible and expansible pad which can be readily charged with oil for initial use, applied for use in charged condition, removed when required for repairs or cleaning of its casing with or without the removal of the resilient bodies from the pockets, or reversal of the pad to use either of its wall faces 24, 25 to contact with and supply oil to the journal, or to reverse the arrangement of the resilient bodies inV their respective pockets from one side to the other side of the journal to make the lubricating actionY uniforml in either direction of rotation of the journal.

In practice, the pad, before being put into use', is placed in a pan or other suitable receptacle containing oil and compressed and allo-wed to expand to take up oil until the container is fully saturated and the resilient cores are charged with oil. The pad is then introduced into the box through the doorway and beneath the journal collar into the reservoir chamber of the box and forced under pressure into the chamber until it contacts with the stop ribs and the journal and is held under compression between the walls of the chamber,v ribs and bottom and sides of the journal. In thus introducing the pad, the flexibility of the pad and the resiliency of its cores adapt it to assume the transversely curved form shown in, Figures l and 2 and to be placed under compression so that it will perform its feed functions in the manner described.

I prefer -to make the resilient bodies 31 and 32 of durable but relatively soft sponge rubber or sponge plastic, sufficiently soft to adapt the pad when applied to readily assume a curved` form to fit the surface of they journal and the ylubrication chamber when under compressiom while offering enough resistance to compression to properlyl support the pad to sustain the load' weight. To stiften the cores 31 and 32 against lateral compression, the bases of the cores may be provided each with a stiifcning layer 35 and 37 which may be in the form of a skin surface molded with the core or as a part of a longer resilient body from which the core is made, to stiften the cores against lateral extension and adapt them to resist jamming due to pressures tending to cause the pad to shift transversely of the box under static and kinetic friction c0- eiiicient of force at sudden changes of speed of the journal or due to inertia when rotated in one direction or the other from a state of rest. The box and pad will coutain a sumcient amount of oil for long service use, but the supply of oil in the box may be replenished from time to time, and this oil will be taken up to keep the pad replenished and distributed by the pad to the journal.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection Iwith the drawings, it will be apparent that in operation the lubricator will be held under compression in the journal and will always be centered for action with relation to the journal, and that in its working section oil stored under pressure in the box and resilient cores will be constantly fed to the journal by capillary attraction supplemented by a pumping action produced by relative motion between the box and journal and resultant compression and reaction of the resilient cores. As the oil is applied to the journal in its rotation in either direction by a continuous absorbent soft pile surface formed by the upper wall of the applicator pad a uniformlyy effectivek application of the oil to the journal is obtained without.` the liability of damaging'objections incidental to the use of cotton Waste and the feed of the oil to the journal is made automatically responsive to meet the demands required byjournal speed and load weight changes. As stated, the pad may be reversed face-to-face so that either ofits broad faces or Wall surfaces may be used as its applicator surface and the surfaces alternately used to eX- tend its lifel service as long-as its applicator surfaces remain in good condition, and the pad casing and cores may be readily cleaned to remove impurities therefrom without removing the cores from the `jackets or independently if considered desirable. The pad is also reversible to cause the cores at different times or shopping periods to face in different directions of travel of the journal. i.e., or longitudinally of the car, to equalize variations in physical changes thereof due to different ranges of travel in opposite directions. The cores may be made of plastic foam or sponge rubber of any degree of durability and resiliency to suit, and they are so mounted that damaged cores may be removed and readily replaced by new cores whenever necessary. Furthermore, the invention provides a type of lubricating pad which may be economically furnished and used to reduce to a minimum liability of hot boxes and their ill effects.

It is to be understood that while the pad may be compressed and held compressed by hand when preliminarily charging it with oil and introducing it into a journal box, a special tool for this purpose may be used.

These and other advantages will, it is thought, be fully understood and appreciated by those versed in the art without a further and extended description.

While the construction of the lubricator as herein' shown and described is preferred, it is to be understood that the construction shown is merely exempliticative, and that changes in form, construction and mode of application in use may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 483,641, filed January 24, 1955, now U.S. Patent 2,807,803.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms Without departing from the spirit of essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A lubricator adapted to be disposed in a journal box between the journal and the lower portions of the box, said lubricator comprising an oil permeable textile material with an outer pile loop surface formed into ilexibly connected parallel pockets disposable within said journal box with the pockets parallel to the axis of the journal, and a body of spongy material in each pocket for forcing the pile loop surfaces of the material forming the top walls into contact with the lower portions of the journal and for exerting continuous lateral force against the walls of the journal box and toward adjacent pockets to insure the forcing of the pile loop surfaces of the material forming the sides of adjacent pockets together from a point at the lower portion of the journal box to a point near the journal substantially in the vertical plane through the center of the journal to form a short, high-capacity conductor between pockets for feeding oil directly upward from the lower portion of the journal box to the upper portions of adjoining pockets.

2. A lubricator adapted to be disposed in a journal box between the journal and the lower portions of the box, said lubricator comprising an oil permeable textile material with an outer pile loop surface formed into exibly connected parallel pockets at least one of which has an open end, said pockets being disposable with said journal box with the pockets parallel to the axis of the journal, and a body of spongy material in each pocket for forcing the pile loop surfaces o-f the material forming the top walls into contact with the lower portions of the journal and for exerting continuous lateral force against the walls of the journal box and toward adjacent pockets to insure the forcing of the pile loop surfaces of the material forming the sides of adjacent pockets together from a point at the lower portion of the journal box to a point near the journal substantially in the Vertical plane through the center of the journal to form a short, highcapacity conductor between pockets for feeding oil directly upward from the lower portion of the journal box to the upper portions of adjoining pockets.

3. A lubricator adapted to be disposed in a journal box between the journal and the lower portions of the box, 'said lubricator comprising an oil permeable textile material with an outer pile loop surface formed into flexibly connected parallel pockets disposable within said journal box with the pockets parallel to the axis of the journal, and a body of spongy material of generally polygonal shape in at least one pocket for forcing the pile loop surface of the material forming the top wall into contact with the lower portie-n of the journal and for exerting a continuous lateral force against a wall of the journal box and toward an adjacent pocket to insure the forcing of the pile loop surfaces o-f the material forming the sides of adjacent pockets together from a point at the lower portion of the journal box to a point near the journal substantially in the vertical plane through the center of the journal to form a short, high-capacity conductor between pockets for feeding oil directly upward from the lower portion of the journal box to the upper portions of adjoining pockets.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSv 91,000 Devlan June 8, 1869 538,553 Sichelschmidt Apr. 30, 1895y 63l,502 I-lagy Aug. 22, 1899 2,049,225 Ripley July 28, 1936 2,089.664 Ripley Aug. 10, 1937 2,150,935 Miller Mar. 2l, 1939 2,747,952 Harkenrider May 29, 1956 2,781,239 Potter Feb. 12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 206,924 Germany May 3, 1908 UNITED STATES PATENT oEEICE ECTIGN February 7i 1961 CERTIFICATI Patent No., 2,970,870

Harley T. Rockwell lt :ls l'l'ereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and 'that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column line 9, for "with read within ma,

Signed and sealed this 13th day o June 1961o (SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

